The New Portland Arms

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Michael Trentham Architects completed the multi-storey mixed-use development at 252 Wandsworth Road. The building, which accommodates 8 flats, 2 live/works units and 2x commercial spaces, replaces the run down New Portland Arms public house.

The complex build involved retaining and restoring the facade of the existing public house, which is located on Wandsworth Road (in the Wandsworth Road Conservation Area) and developing the rear and side of the site to provide additional commercial and residential space.

The site steps a storey from Wandsworth road to the service road behind. We opened the rear elevation up to service road with a series of cascades from behind the parapet of the old public house that form a series of setbacks and balconies into a communal landscaped courtyard at street level.

Views over Battersea and the Battersea Power Station can be enjoyed from multiple levels and viewpoints from both the balconies and generous glass openings.

The New Portland arms uses galvanised steel as part of the design of the building to anchor the other materials (untreated Siberian Larch and Normandy Grey brickwork) and express the structure (cantilevered balconies and marking the floor plate).

It was used to provide a protective capping and enclosure to the Siberian Larch balustrades and entrance gates, reinforcing the structure and protecting from rain. This was also continued over the single skin brickwork balustrades that need reinforcing and a coping detail that was provided by the galvanised mitred and welded flat section.